Ludwig Müller was born in Leoben (Steiermark), studied at the Music Universities Graz and Vienna with Valery Gradow, Klaus Eichholz, Günther Pichler and Ernst Kovacic and graduated with summa cum laude.

Since 1986 he has been concertmaster of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and since 1992 of the Orquestra de Cadaques as well. He is guest concermaster with the Deutschen Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the OBC Barcelona, the Orquestra de Castilla y Leon and the Orquestra Gulbenkian.

In this position he has played under conductors like Marc Albrecht, Rudolf Barschai, Ivor Bolton, Richard Eggar, Philippe Entremont, Adam Fischer, Reinhard Goebel, Thomas Hengelbrock, Heinz Holliger, Yakov Kreizberg, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Neville Marriner, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Gianandrea Noseda, Krysztof Penderecki, Vasily Petrenko, Jukka Pekka Saraste, Günther Pichler, Jordi Savall, Heinrich Schiff, Sandor Vegh, Stefan Vladar.

As soloist and artistic director he has performed in many prestigious concert venues in Vienna, (Konzerthaus und Musikverein), Salzburg (Mozarteum), Berlin (Philharmonie and Schauspielhaus), Paris (Theatre de Champs Elysees), New York (Carnegie Hall), Tokyo (Suntory Hall), Osaka (Symphonie Hall) and made numerous recordings for broadcast and on CD.

From 1988 until 1998 Ludwig Müller was member of the Arcus Ensemble Vienna and performed in Europe, Israel, Japan and the US and the ensemble had its own annual concert series in the Konzerthaus in Vienna.

On the occasion of the opening of the Arnold Schönberg Center Vienna in 1998 Ludwig Müller founded the Aron Quartett Vienna which was the ASCs quartet in residence for10 years with ist own annual concert series. The quartet regularly performs at the Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein and in numerous international chamber music series and music festivals.

The recording of the complete set of string quartets by Arnold Schönberg was described as a new benchmark for these pieces by the international music press. On the occasion of the 50 death anniversary of Erich Wolfgang Korngold the Aron Quartet recorded the complete set of his string quartets, the piano quintet and the suite with Henri Sigfridsson and the string sextet with Thomas Selditz und Marius Diaz. Further recordings of the quartet include string quartets by David Chaillou, Hans Eisler, Joseph Horowitz, Maurice Ravel, Dimitri Schostakowitsch, Franz Schubert, Victor Ullman, Ernst Wellesz, Kirill Zaborov, the piano quintets by Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco and the string quartet and piano quintet by Bruno Walter with Massimo Bianchi.

Since 2008 the Aron Quartett runs its own chamber music festival at the Schloss Laudon in Vienna.

Ludwig Müller is founding member of the Korngold Ensemble Vienna.

Violinist Tiffany Pei Hsuan Wu is a native of Taiwan, she began violin study at age of 8 with Chiao Ling Sun, Yun Hong Su, Yon Hsin Fang and Hui Chun Lin. Under the tutelage of James Buswell and Eric Rosenblith, she completed high school at Walnut Hill School, Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston with honors of Cum Laude and Distinction in Performance.

Besides winning top prizes in competitions in Taiwan, Ms. Wu won the prestigious ChiMei Arts Award (奇美藝術獎), the audition for ''The Music Talent Bank'' (音樂人才庫) in Taiwan, and subsequently received an invitation to perfrom at the presidential inauguration concert. Tiffany's debut recording of Tchaikovsky's ''Souvenir d'un lieu cher'' in Moscow with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra has been broadcast on the Classical Station 97.7 in Taiwan.

Ms. Wu has collaborated with orchestras as a soloist since teenage years: Argentina National Symphony Orchestra, Mar del Plata Symphony Orchestra in Argentina, Tiangjin Symphony Orchestra, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestea in China, Valencia Filharmonia Orchestra in Italy, Voronezh Philharmonic Orchestra, Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. Wu has collaborated with many renowned conductors, including Erich Kunzel, Zdenêk Mácal, Emir Saul, Vladimir Verbitsky, as well as Taiwanese conductors Amy Chang, Shu Si Chen and Chiu Shen Chen. In 2007, Ms. Wu was invited by the Argentinian composer Alicia Terzian and performed her violin concerto under the baton of Emir Saul with the Argentina National symphony orchestra.

In November 2005, Tiffany was invited as a soloist to participate in the ''Taiwan Symphonic Festival'', performing Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy and John Williams' Schindler's List under the baton of Erich Kunzel. Prior to the completion of Bachelor's degree in 2002, she was invited as a soloist to tour to China with the Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra, performed Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1 at Shanghai Symphony Hall and Shenzhen Grand Theater, and received enthusiastic reviews from the Chinese press. In year 2003, Ms. Wu was invited to perform Arnold Schönberg's Chamber Symphony op.9 for 15 solo instruments in the audition for assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, under the guidance of James Levine.

Ms. Wu has given recitals and chamber music concerts in Austria, Germany, Canada, England, Italy, north America, south America and Taiwan: She performed at the Banff international chamber music festival, Amici della Musica del Lago di Garda, the Contemporato Festival V with Italian guitar virtuoso Massimo Scattolin in Prato, Italy, Tigre Spring Festival with Aron Quartett in Argentina, the Fundación Encuentros Internacioles de Música Contemporanea in Buenos Aires, at the National Concert Hall, Taipei, the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage (D.C). In 2017, Tiffany was invited as the artist at the 10th KammerMusik Festival Schloss Laudon in Vienna, Austria, in the same year, Aron Quartett invited Ms. Wu as a guest at the ''Ahrenshoop KammerMusikTage'' in Germany, in collaboration with NDR.

Ms. Wu lives in Vienna, Austria, with her daughter and husband. She is the member of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, guest violinist in Orquestra de Cadaqués, Die Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, where she performs regularly under Sir Neville Marriner, Gianandrea Noseda, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Jaime Martin, Heinrich Schiff and Joshua Weilerstein.

Ms. Wu is a founding member of the Korngold Ensemble Wien, she plays on a violin by Nicolò Amati, 1662.

Cynthia Liao-Zottl began her studies of viola, piano, and composition in her native Taiwan at the age of four before moving to Vienna in 1992. There, she continued her studies of viola with Professor Thomas Kakuska at the University for Music and Performing Arts. She received the title “magistra atrium” and her diploma for concert viola in 2000.

Mrs. Liao-Zottl has performed throughout Europe, North America, and Africa since 2006 as a member of the non-classical ensemble “radio.string.quartet,” both in concert halls as well as music clubs. She is also a chamber music and orchestral coach in high demand teaching workshops and master classes in Austria, Italy, Taiwan and Japan.

In addition to solo recitals, Mrs. Liao-Zottl has been invited to play as a soloist with orchestras in Europe and Asia with conductors including M° Riccardo Chailly and M° Christopher Hogwood. She has performed the world premiers of several works for viola that were dedicated to her by the composers and received invitations from chamber music festivals around the world.

After working as Principal Viola in various orchestras in Italy and Austria, Mrs. Liao-Zottl joined the Vienna Chamber Orchestra in 2004, where she has been Principal Viola since 2011.

Mrs. Liao-Zottl has released seven CDs, a DVD and a double vinyl album with “radio.string.quar- tet” as well as several other recordings, including ancient Chinese music arranged for erhu and western classical string instruments, the entire string quartet works from Giacomo Puccini, a string quartet cover of Jimi Hendrix, and many orchestral works. She has taken on additional roles in the production of some of these productions, including: erhu player, arranger, composer, booklet author, and executive producer.
She has appeared on radio and television in Austria (ORF), Germany (Bayrische Rundfunk, Hes- sische Rundfunk, Arte), Italy (RAI, Radio Classic) in Great Britain (BBC), France, Spain, Sweden, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro. and in South America.

Cynthia Liao-Zottl plays a viola of Ludovicus Guersan (Paris, 1770) and handmade strings of Thomastik-Infeld.

Jonáš Krejčí, violoncello, was born in London and raised in Prague. He studied at the Prague Conservatory, and spent a year in London studying with William Pleeth. He received a scholarship from the University of Southern California, where he studied for four years with Lynn Harrell.

During his time in Los Angeles, he performed in the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute and the New York String Orchestra. After completing his studies, he returned to Europe. As a member first of the Škampa Quartet and then of the Petersen Quartet and Schulhoff Quartet, he has appeared in major concert venues throughout the world, such as Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center in New York, the Philharmonie in Berlin, and the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, and was Artist in Residence at London's Wigmore Hall.

He is principal cellist of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and has played with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. He is the cellist of the  Prazak Quartet from Prague and has performed with artists such as Melvyn Tan, Boris Pergamenschikov, Lynn Harrell, Lars Vogt, Nikolai Demidenko and more. He is also active as a soloist.

Additionally, he has given masterclasses in a variety of places such as the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Winterthur Conservatory in Switzerland, the Hyogo Performing Arts Center in Japan, and in the USA.

Mr. Krejčí plays a Paolo Testore cello from 1761 (Milano).

Catalina Butcaru was born in Constanta, Romania. When she was five years old, Catalina began taking piano lessons at Constanta music school with Victoria Nitu. At the age of eight, Catalina gave her first public concert, which was followed by her first solo concert with orchestra at the age of fourteen. Catalina moved to Bucharest when she was thirteen years old, where she continued her studies at the music school “G. Enescu” with Olga Szel. The renowned Romanian pianists Aurora Ienei and Dan Grigore also encouraged and influenced Catalina’s musical develop- ment. First recordings for Romanian radio broadcasting followed.

Already at the age of 16, Catalina Butcaru was accepted at the renowned University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. She gained her Soloist’s diploma under the supervision of Prof. Jürg von Vintschger. Her longstanding work with pianist Meira Farkas gave Catalina vital artistic impulses.
Catalina continued her musical education at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, where she obtained her Master’s degree in 2004 after intensive studies with the acclaimed Russian piano teacher Alexandr Satz. Master courses with renowned musicians, such as Dmitri Bashkirov, Martin Hughes, and Andrzej Jasinski profoundly influenced her artistic development. Catalina Butcaru won several piano competitions in Romania, among them the Golden Lyra competition and the Mozart competition. She is a finalist of the international Steinway Competition in Vienna.

Between 1996 and 2001 Catalina recorded for Austrian television and radio. Her first solo CD was presented in full in Austrian radio.
Catalina Butcaru is a scholar of the “Alban Berg” foundation and the “Maria Theresia” foundation.

Butcaru's first Solo CD, recorded at Wigmore Hall in 2008 and released by Divine Art – Diversions, attracted international attention. This recording of works by A. Berg, M. Ravel and R. Schumann was not only critically acclaimed but also presented in full in Austrian radio.

"This is the first disc of the Romanian pianist, Catalina Butcaru and it is nothing short of sensa- tional being, extremely good and, indeed, superlative. These are not just performances but vital experiences [...] And the beauty that Butcaru produces is amazing [...] This is a must have disc. It is the best piano playing I have heard for many years." writes critic David C Wright about Catalina Bucaru’s first Solo CD.
"...Catalina Butcaru is at one with the music and can stand comparison with the best who have ventured forth into the territory." (Becker, American Record Guide, 2008)

After an evening of chamber music at the Wiener Konzerthaus , “Der Neue Merker” wrote: “The Romanian pianist is a musical dialogue partner of stupendous maturity, she plays flawlessly with a palette of expression that reaches from sublimity to energetic, powerful allure.”

Performances in the series Musica Juventutits at the Wiener Konzerthaus and at the ORF Radiokulturhaus were followed by invitations to the Philharmonie Luxembourg, the Romanian Atheneum and the Broadcast Concert Hall in Bucharest, the Liszt Center in Raiding, the Muth Hall in Vienna, the Ehrbar Hall in Vienna, Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, the Martinu Hall in Prague, and more.

Many successful projects brought Catalina Butcaru together with musicians like Volkhard Steude, concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic, Valentin Erben, cellist of the “Alban Berg” quartet, or with the rising star violinist Emmanuel Tjeknavorian. In 2014, Butcaru, together with the Rumanian flutist Matei Ioachimescu, recorded her new CD „Lumière“ with works of Poulenc, Enescu and Jolivet.

Catalina Butcaru is frequently invited to international music festivals, such as the Chamber Music Festival Reichenau, the Festival Burg Golling in Salzburg, „Klassik im Burghof“ in Kla- genfurt, the Classic Azur Chamber Music Festival in southern France and the „Toamna Muzicala Clujeana“ in Romania.

Since 2014 Catalina Butcaru has been regularly invited to perform as a soloist with the Mitteldeutschen Philharmonie, as well as with several orchestras in Romania, such as the National Radio Orchestra in Bucharest, Banatul Philharmonic, etc.

Since 2017 Catalina Butcaru is the artistic manager of the project „Vienna meets Romania“ that consists of concerts and master-classes in Romania with Volkhard Steude and other members of the Vienna Philharmonic.

www.catalinabutcaru.com